Heather Briscoe, MD
Associate Professor
Pediatrics
School of Medicine

I am primarily a clinician educator based at the San Francisco General Hospital in Pediatrics. What I am most interested in is addressing the racially disparate composition of children in foster care, in San Francisco in particular.

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I served on a sub-committee for the Mandated Reporting to Community Supporting Task Force, which aims to transform the mandated reporting system, especially in regards to concern for neglect when the parents simply need support with resources. My other area of interest is newborns exposed to substances in utero and their parents. I have worked on the establishment of Plans of Safe Care, building relations with our local emergency response leadership (CPS), slowing down the decision-making process around CPS to reduce bias & enhance understanding, spoken nationally about how to bring anti-racism into child welfare systems, and I work with Team Lily (an innovative multidisciplinary team caring for people who struggle to engage in routine prenatal care). Through these efforts, we have refined how we decide to use urine toxicology to very few discrete indications, and have been able to support birth parents with substance use disorders to enter residential treatment while continuing to parent their newborn if they wish to parent and there aren't other risk factors.

Awards

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• Excellence In Teaching Award, UCSF Academy of Medical Educators, 2019
• Hearts Grant - Video Laryngoscope, ZSFG, 2017

Education & Training

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• Respectful Care of Pregnant and Birthing People (train the trainer) National Birth Equity Collaborative 12/2019
• Teaching Scholars Program UCSF 08/2018
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Champion Training University of California 2017
• General Pediatrics UCSF 06/2010
• MD UCSF 12/2005

Publications (8)

Top publication keywords:
Infant, NewbornAttitude of Health PersonnelPhysiciansIntensive Care Units, NeonatalHealthcare DisparitiesInfant HealthChild WelfarePerinatal CarePregnancyEmotionsFamilySubstance-Related DisordersPediatricsPrenatal CareInfant, Very Low Birth Weight

• Pediatric Resident Perspectives on How to Teach about Neonatal Health Inequities: A Multi-Site Exploratory Study
  Academic Pediatrics 2025 Shamita Punjabi, MD, Christina Konecny, MD, Evangelina Molina, MD MB, Rebecca Webb, MD, Kayla L. Karvonen, MD MAS, Stephanie Fong Gomez, MD MS, Heather Briscoe, MD, Rebecca Blankenburg, MD, MPH. …
• Pediatric Resident Perspectives on How to Teach About Neonatal Health Inequities: A Multisite Exploratory Study.
  Academic pediatrics 2025 Punjabi S, Konecny C, Molina E, Webb R, Karvonen KL, Gomez SF, Briscoe H, Blankenburg R, Blecharczyk E, CINC Study Team
• Patients, colleagues, systems, and self: Exploring layers of physician emotions in caring for pregnant people who use substances and their newborns.
  Journal of substance use and addiction treatment 2024 Martinez NG, Seidman DL, Briscoe H, Hayes CM, Ojukwu EI, Paltin D, Roberts SCM
• Facilitating Integrated Perinatal Care for Families Affected by Substance Use.
  Journal of addiction medicine 2022 Schmidt CN, Patel D, Alpers BS, Spaulding M, Ocegueda L, Thomas M, Sammann A, Briscoe H
• Disparities and Early Engagement Associated with the 18- to 36-Month High-Risk Infant Follow-Up Visit among Very Low Birthweight Infants in California.
  The Journal of pediatrics 2022 Lakshmanan A, Rogers EE, Lu T, Gray E, Vernon L, Briscoe H, Profit J, Jocson MAL, Hintz SR
• Do No Harm - Rebuilding Trust and Keeping Families Together
  Do No Harm - Rebuilding Trust and Keeping Families Together 2022 Heather Briscoe, MD, Snehal Murthy, MS, Simone Vais, MD
• Widespread Surveillance by the Child Protection System: Lasting Effects on Families.
  American journal of public health 2021 Schmidt CN, Stretten M, Briscoe H
• Mother & Baby Substance Exposure Toolkit; Best Practice #29- Develop a Dyad-centered Plan of Safe Care
  Mother & Baby Substance Exposure Toolkit; Best Practice #29- Develop a Dyad-centered Plan of Safe Care 2021 Heather Briscoe, Helen DuPlessis, Jacqueline Rad, Kelly Brandon, Mimi Leza